sportsfanmas Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 <p>Good stuff! Making the NIT championship should get you quite a few enticing job offers.</p><p> </p><p> I had to put an end to my single player dynasty I had going on here. Just too many other projects going on, along with working 3 jobs, something had to give. Not to mention it appears that the followers on FBCB dynasties have severely diminished.</p><p> </p><p> I'll keep following along with yours though, good luck!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Good stuff! Making the NIT championship should get you quite a few enticing job offers. I had to put an end to my single player dynasty I had going on here. Just too many other projects going on, along with working 3 jobs, something had to give. Not to mention it appears that the followers on FBCB dynasties have severely diminished. I'll keep following along with yours though, good luck! thanks for following along. I'll get the championship game posted soon I hope. I expect a few offers but quite frankly I really hate to leave yet with unfinished business. Gardner Webb has never been to an NCAA tournament and would like another crack at it. But we shall see -- money can talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 NIT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Gardner-Webb vs #5 Murray State Murray State: 25-11 (13-5), they won the OVC regular season, but lost in the tournament just like we did. They beat Duke, LSU, and Mississippi State in the regular season. In the NIT, they knocked off Maryland, North Dakota, Richmond, and Loyola Marymount - all close games. It is evident, they are not in awe of anyone. Defensive battle 23-30 at the half. WE're shooting 30% and they are shooting 21%. The shooting actually got worse for the first 7 minutes, then the Racers got "hot" With 8 minutes to go, it was once again a 3 pt game. We stay with them and hit the FTs down the stretch, final score 62-57, we are the champions!. Gammon is the star of the game with 17 pts and 7 rebounds. Villa 7 pts / 12 rebounds. Smallwood had 10 pts and team leading 4 assists when Weigand got into foul trouble. (we end up shooting 31% and they hit 27%). Defense wins championships - and we just won the NIT championship. I really thought this would be the team that finally got to the NCAA, but this is a great accomplishment too. NCAA FINAL FOUR The Elite 8 were #4 Michigan State vs #7 Syracuse, #4 Xavier vs #3 Purdue, #5 Duke vs #6 Texas, #9 Nebraska vs #11 Fairfield -- great Cinderella story as they have beaten So Cal, Arkansas - Little rock, and Kansas. Their coach Jerry Shores was an Asst at Rhode Island and Notre Dame prior to coming to Fairfield for his first job - nice recovery from being fired from Notre Dame after the first season (prior coach Kevin Leduc left to take a job at Charlotte) Final Four: Duke 68 - Michigan State 54 Xavier 81 - Nebraska 71 (nebraska ended Fairfield's cinderella run. Now all eyes are on Xavier; however, Duke is the national champs 66-58 over Xavier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 end of season reports: Recruiting WE add a 1 star PF (Chris Nickerson) and 1 star Center (Gary Anderson) at the end of the recruiting cycle. I expect the forward to develop but the center is nothing more than a back up. Charlie Chee our 3 star PG recruit is the crown jewel. All 3 are smart players which will help their development. WE have one open spot for a transfer if we find a good one. Our recruiting class ends up being #208 in the nation. Tennessee has the top class awards: Villa is the Big South Player of the year. He and Wiegand are named first team, Graber and Gammon are 2nd team. Smallwood and Phillips are named to all Freshman team. I am named Big South Coach of the year Records: Graber ends up 6th on the all time Big South scoring list with 1732 pts. Dietz was 45th Coaching Carosel: as aniticipated by some on here, there were several offers extended in my direction after leading Gardner Webb to the NIT title. The biggest and most lucrative offer came from big blue - the University of Michigan!! Very tempting, but I made a promise to stay here until we can build GW into a NCAA tournament team. I respectfully decline and agree to stay put another year. assistants Simon Peters, our lead scout, resigns over a salary dispute. We hire an Asst from Auburn. Peters ends up at UAB' (Brian Tapley is not as good a scout, but we get a better recruiter from the Auburn staff too. Romano lands on his feet at Georgia Southern)/ Tapley is level 2, with 7 experience, 52 rating Gerald Lamoreaux is our new recruiter, level 1, 7 experience, 52 rating. He and Brian worked together at two schools (this being the 3rd) and we like their chemistry. They followed Emanual Gotto to Auburn, and we did them a favor as they were able to upgrade both positions to SEC caliber coaches. We are going to try to upgrade our schedule this year in an effort to battle harden this team. With Villa, Weignand, and Gammon I feel like we can score with anyone, so we will put that theory to the test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 2017-18 our schedule will include some top 25 quality teams like Gonzaga, Arizona, Notrea Dame, Michigan, Wake Forest. Number to the left is their RPI 7 Bradley w 83-74 -- Bradley was a tough match up early, but we stayed steady and wore them down, In a reverse of fortunes, they got into major foul trouble (3 starters foul out) and we never had any foul issues. We erase their 10 pt lead, trail 39-45 at the half. 2nd half, our experience and depth takes over and we go on 15-2 run to take the lead and never look back. Final score 83-74 victory. Weigand 14 pts to win star of the game. Gammon had 15 before getting injured. Villa 12 pts/10 rebounds. Stat of the game, Bradley commits 35 fouls, we only are whistled for 15. Gammon's injury is diagnosed as a sprain and he's day to day, so we expect he will be able to play some against Gonzaga if need be. 139 Gonzaga W 80-71 Top of the Globe tournament invite. Weigand 2nd straight player of the game with 16 pts 96 Green Bay w 57-43 Top of the Globe -- #5 seed Green Bay, ranked #22 in the Mid-Major Poll. Villa is star of the game with 13 pts / 10 rebounds. 11 Missouri State L 78-84 Top of Globe finals -- Villa scores 23 and another 10 rebounds. 240 Quinnipiac W 86-77 Quinnipiac (a team GW has never beaten) - we get a 39-31 halftime lead. We hold off several runs, including one that cut the lead to 2, and hold on to win 86-77. Trott is the leading scorer with 21 (as Phillips fouled out early). Villa 19, Gammon 11. 65 At Arizona L 73-95 Weigand 18, Gammon 16 pts. 181 at Notre Dame L 66-71 Weignad 19 pts, Gammon 18 pts. Notre Dame blocked 13 shots and no matter I tried, the team kept trying to take it inside against them. NOVEMBER STATS: Record 4-3 Pts: Vila 13.9, Wiegand 13.9, Gammon 9.7/ Rebounds: Villa 9.4, Manning 3.8, Palmer 3.8. Assists: Phillips 2.0, Smallwood 1.9; STEALS: Weigand 2.1 we need to shake off losing 3 of the last 4 games, but the road does not get any easier. Next up, we travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan -- one of the teams who offered me last year, so they are breaking in a new coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 we end the losing streak and then some! At Michigan W 89-86 This team offered me a job in the off-season so I wanted to win badly, and I felt we could match up well with them. 36-34 at half. And we were able to stay close the entire way - Gammon hits the bucket that puts ahead down the stretch (and was 11-11 from the FT line). dramatic 89-86 victory in Ann Arbor! Gammon 22 pts, Villa and Wiegand 17 each. Michigan was one of the few teams to out shoot us from beyond the arc, but we found other ways to win at Florida State W 73-69 WE jump to a 10 pt lead but end the half down 4. 2nd half was back and forth action, several minute stretches with a tie score. We get a lead with a minute to go and salt it away with Villa hitting his FT's. Antonie Palmer coming off injury was the player of the game with 16 pts and 7 rebounds. Richard Phillips had 14 pts in the first half to keep it close then, but fatigue set in and he was ineffective down the stretch. FSU was 1-15 from beyond the arc (we hit 7 of 24, and that spelled the difference) Northeastern W 69-58 -- Villa responds with 20 pts at Drexel W 80-76 -- Villa scores another 20 #6 Wake Forest W 72-67 When Auburn and Akron decline invites to play, The Demon Deacons called and said they were willing to travel over to visit us --- halftime shocker as GW leads 38-27. Both teams have 3 players with 2 fouls, so that could play a factor later in the game. we are 12 of 15 at the charity stripe and that has given us this lead. Takes Wake Forest all of 5 minutes to tie the game in the 2nd half as their pressure starts to take its toll. We scrap back to take the lead as Wake exerted a lot of energy to tie the game. We can seem to buy a bucket in the 2nd half and missing tons of FT's, but with a small lead late - we hit just enough of them to ice the game for a huge upset. HUGE win for the program. 72-67. Richard Phillips is the star of the game with 19 pts,3 rebounds, and 3 clutch FT's to seal the win. WE shot 24 of 35 FT's for the game (12 of 20 in the 2nd half). Villa adds another double double and our team celebrates with the fans way into the night. Thier leading scorer Oulgin fouls out with 12 pts in 13 minutes -- his foul trouble played a huge role in this upset. WE just knocked off the defending ACC champions! UNC Asheville W 99-74 Could be a shoot-out as the teams are 1-2 in scoring for Big South teams. Villa comes into the game averaging a double/double in OOC play (against some stiff competition). He continues that trend today with 16 pts/15 rebounds to win player of the game. GW wins a rout 99-74. Phillips add 17, Gammon 16. Once again FT shooting was a key as we hit 15 more than them, and we out rebound 42-24. sidenote, this is the 3rd most pts scored in GW history! Up next is arch enemy Winthrop - the top defensive and rebounding team in the Big South. Winthrop W 84-73 At 10-3, we finally crack the Mid-Major poll at #23. We are 7-8 lifetime against Winthrop, easily their toughest conference challenge -- close early, but Winthrop pulls to a 10 pt halftime lead. Villa continues his BEAST mode performance as he leads us back to a dramatic win 84-73. Villa scores 28 pts, 11 rebounds,a steal,and a blocked shot to earn Player of the Game. We got out-rebounds 32-38, but that's closer than I expected against the top rebounding team in the Big South. Gammon added 17 in support of Villa - his outside shot kept Winthrop honest. Presbyterian W 79-58 WE are 14-0 lifetime vs Pres. close early, but Villa led us to the win with 19 pts/10 rebs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 <p><strong>RECRUITING NEWS</strong></p><p> 3 star center William Gable signs. 6'8, 240 pounder from Georgia. He is #288 overall, #69 center. He averages 18 pts and 6 rebounds a game. Hopefully he can fill the big shoes being left by Villa (red/green). He will be joined by a 1 star Gabriel Oshea from NC> 25 pts /5 rebounds (red/yellow rated project). We lose Pascal and McEvoy who have been good subs even though they were walk ons, so that's the role Gabe will play for us. For our 3rd scholarship, Australian sharpshooter Claude Thompson has expressed some interest. If we don't find someone we want, we can hold off and look for a transfer candidate</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"> at Radford</span> W 78-55 </p><p> we are 9-6 all time vs Radford -- close game early but we wear them down with depth and win going away, 78-55. Phillips is the star of the game and leading scorer with 13. We go deep in the bench with a dozen players getting 10 minutes of playing time. 11 steals and 20 total turnovers helped us set the stage for the game.</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">AT High Point</span> L 80-84</p><p> We are 10-7 vs HP -- a team that always plays us tough takes a 12 point half time lead. We storm back and lead by 4 late but allow them to tie it up and go to overtime. Weigand, Villa and Gammon all foul out and we lose by 4 84-80. Phillips leads us with 13 pts and 7 rebounds. Villa 7 pts/5 rebounds before fouling out. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Charleston Southern</strong> W 68-67 </p><p> We are 14-1 vs CS - maybe we relaxed too much and took the game for granted. But holy cow, another nail biter. We blow a 6 pt HT lead but hang on to win by one 68-67. Villa 17 pts/11 rebounds. </p><p> Coastal Carolina W 74-66 We are 11-4 vs Coastal - we jump to a 29-16 HT lead as Weigand came to play (9 pts, 5 rebs, 2 assts in first half). We hold off a late rally to win 74-66. Weigand is the star of the game with 16 pts and 6 rebounds.</p><p> at VMI W 86-77 We are 13-2 vs VMI - 86-77 victory. Weigand 17 pts, Trott 15,</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">at Liberty</span> L 70-80</p><p> We are 7-8 lifetime vs Liberty, one of 2 conference teams with winning records against us. Entire starting line-up sits with 2 fouls midway thru first half (after getting 5 early on them the team loses focus). We slow the pace and go into the lockerrroom 27-32 and happy to be this close. Even with the starters back, we never find a rhythm and fall 70-80. Weigand had 19 pts, but no one else helped out. shot 38% and allowed 55% - pitiful defense and we are better than this (dropped to 2nd in conference after this showing in the defense ranks). We are tied with Winthrop atop the Big South standing 7-2 each</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">at Presbyterian</span> W 84-70 </p><p> WE get it together against hapless Pres. Villa scores 21 and 15 rebounds to lead us to a 84-70 win. Gammon adds 21. Big showdown at Winthrop is next'</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">at Winthrop </span> L 76-89 </p><p> one of those games where nothing goes right - Winthrop continues their dominance over us in a rout - 89-76 (key stat out rebounded 45-30). Villa scores our first 7 pts and ends up with 12. Weigand fouls out with 5 pts, and four others with 4 fouls. We are so spotty these days, it's hard to get a pulse on this team</p><p> </p><p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"> some key stats thru January:</span></p><p> Scoring: Villa 10.6, Weigand 10.6, Gammon 8.8 (all dropped big in the month).</p><p> Rebounds: Villa 8.2, Palmer 3.9. </p><p> Assists: Weigand 2.1, Villa 1.4, Smallwood 1.4. </p><p> Steals - Weigand 1.7, blocks Villa .5. </p><p> </p><p> Still #1 in Big South Scoring (77.6), #17 in nation, but we fell to #4 in fouls. Still #1 in rebounds, but near the bottom in opponent rebounding so #6 in differential. defensively we allow a lot of points (#7) but doing well in FG % (#2 @42%)</p><p> </p><p> record 17-6 *(8-3)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 high point W 74-69 bounce back win 74-69. Phillips leads with 18 pts. Villa 12 pts / 11 rebounds. Radford W 81-37 we are trying to stress defense and it pays off -- 81 to 37 rout. Weigand 14 pts and 9 rebounds to win star honors. 4th lowest amount of points ever allowed (#1 also was Radford with 31). 57 rebounds in the game, best all time, 27 offensive rebounds - best all time at Coastal Carolina W 88-81 88-81 win. Villa 4 fouls and ineffective, but Gammon (22), and Phillips (16) fill the scoring void. Weigand, Trott, and Manning all foul out (to go with Villa's 4 fouls) at Charleston Southern W 87-74 we struggled with them at home and expected a rough game. Villa put the game on his shoulders and carried to victory 87-74. Villa had 18 pts and 15 rebounds for his 17th player of the game award. Phillips 14, Weigand 16 as our star players did their jobs today. Winthrop dropped 3 in a row since beating us and have fallen to 2nd place in the Big South, 1 game behind us. Liberty W 86-57 the team was fired up after the beating they took at their gym and run to a 49-26 HT lead (Villa 13 first half pts, 6 rebs). 86-57 final score - Villa is the star with 26 pts and 10 rebounds. Weigand, Gammon, and Trott added 10 pts each, Palmer 8 rebounds as we win the battle of the boards 45-30. Now a 2 game lead over Winthrop - the only bad news from the game is we lose 3rd string PG Charlie Chee for a week with a sprained ankle (only 1 game as it turns out thanks to the schedule) VMI W 78-74 78-74 victory, Gammon scores 20. Villa another double/double 14 pts/12 rebounds. He is very close to averaging a double/double per game for the season. Dicky and Cason both score 26 for VMI at UNC Asheville W 83-66 83-66 win to close out the regular season. Weigand 19 pts, Villa 15 pts / 11 rebounds. We are now 13-5 all time v UNCA FEB STATS: Villa 14 pts, 9.9 rebounds. Weignad 12 pts, 4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals. Gammon 11.6 points, Phillips 10, tournament is up next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympia Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT Liberty 8-9 all time vs Liberty with a loss to them earlier in the year. Our goal this year is to make the NCAA tourney and anything short is a failure - not an easy task drawing one of our toughest rivals in the opening game. What a war!! Villa picks up 2 quick fouls and has to sit most of the first half as we watch Liberty take the HT lead. Gammon keeps us close and when Villa returns he is a machine inside fouling out 2 of their starters. We turn up the pressure and it pays off. With 5 minutes to go, we finally take the lead and from there hit enought FT's to ice the game. Big win 90-86!! They shot over 60% and we hit 42% -- difference is 12 steals and forcing 28 turnovers (commiting only 6!) Gammon is the star with 23 pts. Villa scores 14 in the second half and pulls down only 5 rebounds. Hard to win when you get out shot and out rebounded (both our usual strengths) but the up tempo game forced them into some turnovers and that paid off - also we had 20 more FT attempts, making 15 of them. Otherwise, this would have been yet another first round exit. We are now .500 all time vs Liberty Coastal Carolina W 5 seed trounced Charleston by 10 in the opening round. Once again Villa was shut down due to early foul troubles, so we adjust to an outside game (nice being as balanced as we are). Weigand (23) and Gammon (19) respond and lead us to a 89-79 victory. Villa held to 7 pts and 5 rebounds effectively ending his goal of getting a double/double average for the season. Winthrop #1 vs #2. the top 2 teams all time in the Big South. Winthrop holds a slight one game advantage in the all time record, so just like Liberty we have a chance to balance the books. Always fitting to see the 2 best meet in the finals with a trip to NCAA on the line. Winthrop has won the conference tourney 3 times including beating us in the finals 2 years ago. Its time for payback boys!! oh gosh, Villa breaks his leg in the first minute and our hopes are dashed!!! Our team is rattled and picks up 3 quick fouls, so I call time out and work to settle them down. We need to devise a new plan and work around the huge absence in the middle of the paint. We trail at half 37-24 and know we have our work cut out for us. Hopefully they get overconfident knowing we lost Villa and at the same time our team rallies around their fallen comrade. We rain down some 3's to take the lead, but then Winthrop roars back. Both teams playing hot potato with the ball and its a see-saw game. Winthrop gets into foul trouble and we have to make them pay from the charity stripe. Their frustration starts to show drawing a Technical foul - Gammon misses both FT's though!! still a 2 point ball game (this could have blown it open with 6 minutes to go). Instead we blow a prime opportunity and watch them hit a 3 to take the lead. With 4 minutes to go, we force a shot clock violation and take a 1 pt lead. With Winthrop killing us on the boards, we went to a deep motion offense trying to milk some clock and get a really good shot. It was starting to take its toll (as well as keep us more rested). With 3 to go, GW hits a couple shots and gets some quick steals. Winthrop is forced to foul and this time we sink our shots, 67-59 is the final score and GW is going to the NCAA but without our star player Villa. Weigand 23 pts, Phillips 11 to lead us to victory. What a hard fought game, I'm sure the team and fans are exhausted as I am after it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoxltc Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Wow, what a great run. Going to be hard to overcome losing your best player, good teams find a way to win no matter the situation. Good Luck the the Big Dance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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